Stories from a real life cowpuncher that will give you a smile and a glimpse of God.

Do you have a tally book or a dally book?

by Kevin on April 14, 2011

Many ranchers I have worked with over the years have a little book in their pocket called a “tally” book. Anytime we ever worked their cattle, or shipped, or branded, they would put the numbers down in their little book. They may put down that we branded 40 head of calves out of the North Mustang pasture. They may put down that 24 were bull calves and 16 were heifers. Some ranchers may not be able to work the television remote, but nearly every one of them can tell you their calf crop percentage without a calculator.

This little book becomes an invaluable tool in appraising how the ranch is operating. Maybe your calf crop is going down year after year in a particular pasture. It could be a problem with nutrition, age of cattle, or maybe one of the bulls has lost his vitality. If you still cannot figure out what’s wrong and you know your calf crop percentage is dwindling, you can always call one of the people that know the answer to every question there ever was. You can call your local Extension Agent, and if he or she doesn’t know, you can always just ask your wife. She will tell you that it’s because the bulls don’t help enough around the house and they are always flirting with all those young heifers.

These things are written down so the rancher can go back and study and make decisions about what he should do. Some people have laptops, cowboys have tally books. Some people have PDAs, cowboys have TBs (that stands for tally book, not tuberculosis). They write these things down so they don’t forget. It is a record of what’s been done and a decision making tool for the future.

There is another book that was written for nearly the same purposes. This book was written so we might know what to do in certain situations. It contains all the histories so we can learn from the past and it also contains the future so that we may prepare for what it to come. It is absolute truth without one single mistake if read correctly. A man named John talks about this very thing.

John 20:30-31

Jesus did many other miraculous signs in the presence of his disciples, which are not recorded in this book. But these are written that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and that by believing you may have life in his name.

There is not one thing that you cannot find the answer to in this book when you seek it out and pray as you read. Many books will tell you that they hold the keys to happiness, love, joy, eternal life, financial freedom, how to raise your kids, and every other topic imaginable. But the Bible is the really the only book that holds the truth about all of these. Nearly everyone has a copy laying around somewhere. Pick it up today and let God speak to you through it. It is the word of God after all. Like an Extension Agent, it has the answer to everything.